


Shatter

by ZaliaChimera



Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Introspection, M/M, Pre-Season/Series 04, Short One Shot, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:40:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26192785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZaliaChimera/pseuds/ZaliaChimera
Summary: There is blood on Wilde's hands.The aftermath of a mission gone wrong.
Relationships: Zolf Smith/Oscar Wilde
Comments: 23
Kudos: 70





	Shatter

There is blood on Wilde's hands. It's dripped down towards his wrists so he looks like he's wearing dark crimson gloves, and uneven patches of it shine in the flickering gas light of the bathroom. 

He takes a shuddering breath and leans over the sink. The porcelain is cool and he leaves scarlet handprints on the white.

He feels sick. It isn't the first person he's killed, not even the first person he's killed in such a bloody way, although he prefers to avoid that if he can. It's so inelegant. But he'd promised himself, long ago, that when he stopped being affected, when he stopped wanting to throw up, that was when he'd gone too far. That was when he'd stop, before he forgot why he did this in the first place, forgot who and what he was protecting. Before he became a true monster.

But there's no stopping now. No idle retirement to tame that darkness and smudge soft the ragged edges. 

There's movement in the mirror, and Zolf appears. Wilde straightens up and turns to face him, preferring the reality to the wavering mirage in the reflection. His brow is furrowed as it so often is. Wilde isn't sure whether to love or hate him for that constancy. Part of him feels like Zolf should be shattered like everything else, even as the thought of losing this small certainty makes it hard to breath.

"They were infected then?" Zolf asks, and Wilde longs for his calm, the flatness in his voice, when his own trembles in his throat like a trapped moth.

"Yes," Wilde replies and the word says everything. More allies lost, more people made blue-veined drones. More hope leeched away.

"You hurt?"

"No," Wilde says. If nothing else, he is good at his job. "I'll have to quarantine."

"Guess neither of us is going anywhere for a while then."

"You don't need to stay with me," Wilde snaps, temper rising like a wounded dog.

Zolf approaches him slowly, like he sees the wounded beast too. Wilde presses back against the sink, tilts his head back, throat bared. He sees Zolf take in the blood down his front, the messy spatters that speak more of desperation than skill. A million miles from silk shirts and cravats and he can't hold together the bard and socialite right now without the dressing.

Zolf reaches out. Wilde flinches, hates himself for the weakness. Zolf takes his hand, heedless of the sticky mess. Slowly, he raises Wilde's hand to his lips and kisses the tips of his fingers. "Not letting you go anywhere alone. Not this time."

And it's like this, safe finally, and not alone, that Wilde can finally break.

**Author's Note:**

> Amazing fanart of Wilde by Berry

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Shatter [podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26484274) by [KD reads (KDHeart)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KDHeart/pseuds/KD%20reads)




End file.
